Two police officers and five young men were killed on 22 August when a Volkswagen Passat, travelling the wrong way on the A66 at South Bank, near Middlesbrough, crashed into a Cleveland Police armed response vehicle. The collision occurred at 03:39 BST.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) stated that officers had been pursuing the Passat for almost seven minutes due to its connection to alleged criminal activity. However, the pursuit was abandoned 10 seconds before the crash when the car turned onto the dual carriageway.
PC Matthew Blades, 37, a father of two, and PC Tom Clough were in a vehicle searching for the Passat after its cloned registration plates were detected. They were not involved in the pursuit, according to the IOPC. PC Blades' family described him as a "beloved husband" and "most devoted father", while PC Clough's family said he had a "fantastic sense of humour" and was their "hero".
The five individuals in the Passat were identified as Michael Robert Cahill, 23, Jacob Matusiak, 23, Makai Saddington, 18, Theo Rae, 17, and Cole Robert Worthy, 17. Cleveland Police revealed that four of the five had previous convictions, including for assaulting police officers. Michael Robert Cahill had no convictions.